Connections are being made

We eat a lot of "blue box" mac and cheese at our house. All five kids love it and I love it because they can make it without help. Well, the older three kids can. The new girls often with difficulty with processing math problems. I use every opportunity for a teaching moment. Well, tonight the girls wanted to make the mac and cheese. The boys are in Canada and Morgan was doing something else, so they wanted to cook the mac and cheese. Elliott had them sitting waiting for the water to boil. One girl called and said "Uh-oh, I poured the milk and don't know how much I need." She had a two cup measuring cup with milk in it. We started by pouring the milk back into the jug. I had them read the directions on the box. They couldn't read 1/4 cup. They didn't know what that was or meant. I started with how many quarters in a dollar, how many quarters in a football game with no connection. I asked if they had a piece of paper and I wanted 1/4 of it how many pieces would you give me. It connected. One girl said one. When I asked how many in all, she said 4. I was so happy. We talked about 4 quarters in a dollar. I told them to read the box again. We couldn't do it. I explained again. She was finally able to read the box after I repeated it a few times. I asked if they could see 1/4 on the measuring cup and they couldn't. I got out a 1 cup measuring cup. One girl told me she needed the 1/4 line. Yeah!! We have been praying for breakthrough in life skills. They can do simple calculations, but not apply them. She poured it and realized she had too much and corrected it. The other big occurance is that she is started to remember and think through the steps in making mac and cheese. She finally remembers that you must drain the noodles before putting in the milk, cheese, and butter. She is showing signs of comprehending the steps!! Before, she just couldn't get it. I am always trying to answer their questions with a word problem where possible to help them apply their math.

I am sorry this is long drawn out, but we were very excited tonight when things started "clicking" with her. The other girls hasn't quite got it yet, but it will come with time.

When we look back over the almost three months with our girls, they are improving little by little. It is exciting to see the changes. It is also exciting to see my husband rising to the challenge of raising three girls. We can see in our two girls what happens when a strong father figure doesn't exist in a little girls life. They have obsessions about unhealthy things, among many other things. The one twin is learning to play more and more each day. She is trying hard to let go of control. She still gets angry at times. Well, they all do.

It is nice to see visible improvement.